Guilty Alone
by darklittleobsession
Summary: He has lived life solitarily for years. What happens when a warrior comes that reminds him of his cursed past. Random story I came up with, OC and so on.


'Aargh! Skxawng tawtute!' So'ke grunted in pain as he trudged across the forest floor. Blood dripped through his fingers as he held his wounds tightly. The Sky People had shot him while he had been hunting, but it wasn't like he'd been hunting for his clan. So'ke had no clan.

His feet carried him at an uneasy pace, not even knowing where he was going. It felt like a moon had passed before his mind registered that he was standing before the Tree of Voices. A prickle of fear crawled up his spine, he needed to consult Eywa. He needed hope. But what if she punished him for his sin?

Nervously, So'ke stepped forward and gently took hold of one of the luminescent vines. He was just about to attach his queue when he heard movement in the bushes. Immediately, he dropped on all fours in a cat-like crouch and dodged behind the trunk of the tree. Just as he disappeared from view a male Na'vi warrior stepped into the tree's glowing light.

So'ke could easily tell he was a Na'vi of high rank. The way he walked with dignity and pride… Maybe he was a future Olo'ektan to the nearby clan, the Omaticaya. He watched as the Na'vi came closer and closer, his footsteps hardly audible. The suddenly, there was a dull thud and So'ke found an arrow lodged in the wood of the tree, inches from his head. Somehow the warrior had noticed him and had moved fast as light to meters where So'ke was hiding. His muscles leaped into action as he tried to run, but he'd barely gone a few feet when he felt a yanking pain at the back of his head. Great, the Na'vi had him by his queue. So'ke immediately stilled so as not to obtain anymore injuries.

'Who are you?' the Na'vi demanded, tightening his grip on the braid.

'Argh! Ow! Stop! I'm no one! I'm no one!' So'ke yelled, the pain becoming too much.

The warrior, finally noticing the gun-shot wounds, released him. So'ke fell to his knees, too weak to do anything. 'My name is So'ke,' he grunted after a while.

'Your clan?' the warrior asked, still standing over him.

So'ke tensed. He hesitated before answering. 'I have no clan.'

The warrior made a sound that could have been a scoff. But he stopped when he saw So'ke's body give a giant convulsion of pain. Now he saw how serious the wounds were.

'You need a healer to look at your wound. Come!' he demanded, pulling So'ke up by his forearm.

'NO!' the child all but screamed, squirming out of the older male's grasp.

The warrior looked highly affronted. 'But those wounds could be fatal…'

'I'LL LET EYWA TAKE MY ENERGY BEFORE I SET FOOT IN A CLAN AGAIN!' his throat almost split from screaming. So'ke didn't notice until that moment that he was crying. It was all coming back so sharply; his raised bow, his mentor's shocked face…

'Then what will you have me do?' the warrior asked, oblivious to So'ke's tears.

Not yet completely out of his daze, a few of his current thoughts leaked into his next sentence. 'I want to forget,' his tears fell with a bit more earnest. Then he remembered the one beside him. 'Forget… Forget that you ever saw me.'

'I cannot do that,' the warrior said flatly. And with that he promptly grabbed So'ke by the arm and started to pull him into the forest.

So'ke kicked and screamed the whole way, mostly injuring himself instead of the warrior. Somewhere along the way So'ke must have blacked out because the next thing he knew he was being lowered off the back of a pa'li. He was completely surrounded by other Na'vi, families, children, warriors, it was too much. All he wanted to do was run, but he was just too weak. Someone carried him into a nearby alcove and laid him on a straw mat. When he tried to lift himself up someone held his shoulders down.

'Be still, tsahik will heal you-'

'I don't want to heal!' So'ke screamed. 'I want to die! I don't want to hurt anyone else! Let Eywa take me!'

xxx

Jake and Neytiri both looked up as they heard screaming from a nearby alcove. Many people were gathered at its entrance including Tsu'tey. They quickly made their way over and Jake heard a couple words through all the screaming. '…want to die…'

'Tsu'tey, what has happened?' Neytiri asked.

'I found a young warrior wounded while in the forest. He didn't say which clan he was from so I brought him here for treatment.'

'He sounds really grateful,' Jake scoffed when he heard the wounded Na'vi yell out a stream of insults.

Tsu'tey glared at him, but didn't comment. Suddenly, a figure shot out of the alcove. Several Na'vi were knocked of their feet. The boy tried bolting, but being so disoriented, ended up running head long into Jake. Almost on instinct, Jake swung his arm around so that he held the kid in a head lock. The Na'vi yelled even louder at this, but stopped struggling.

'Jakesully, release him! You could injure him further!' Tsu'tey hissed.

Jake slowly retracted his arms and the Na'vi just fell to his knees. Right before he passed out, So'ke mumbled something subconsciously. All Jake was able to discern was: '…don't… I'm too dangerous… let me die… I deserve… want to die.'

Everyone was silent as the exhausted boy was carried back into the alcove. Deciding to break the silence, Jake made a hasty comment. 'Is there a suicide problem with the Na'vi?'

'Swiss-side?' Tsu'tey and Neytiri inquired.

'Never mind,' Jake waved it aside and walked away. But he was deep in thought about that boy. Why did he think that he was a danger? Why was he so scared to be around the people he had grown up with?

xxx

Tsu'tey easily dodged aside as a medicine bowl flew at his face. He should have expected as much; So'ke had shown nothing but hatred towards the warrior in the past week. The healers kept telling the boy that hatred would cloud his mind and banish his ability to See. Yet the young one didn't listen, or at least acted like he didn't.

'It is nice to See you, too,' Tsu'tey said sarcastically, catching a bone needle before it punctured his skin.

'Just get out!' So'ke yelled.

'I just came to see if you would thank me properly today. I did save your life after all.' This was true, everyone knew that So'ke would have died without treatment; and Tsu'tey knew that a "thank you" was in order. He had been coming every day, but with each visit So'ke seemed to become more desperate to escape.

A theory was that since the child hadn't been with a clan for so long, it had morphed his ability to See. Some said that he had half the mind of the independent and weak tawtute and half the mind of the fierce Na'vi. How this had happened no one know, So'ke didn't even talk about his past.

'You didn't save me, you're torturing me!' Quiet suddenly, So'ke started weeping. Tears streamed down his face and his breath came out in painful sobs.

Tsu'tey took advantage of his lowered hostility to sit beside him. When the young warrior continued to cry, Tsu'tey asked quietly. 'Do you want to be alone?'

So'ke shook his head "no".

'But you want them to leave you alone?' Tsu'tey indicated the two healers in the alcove.

A nod.

Silently, Tsu'tey indicated (politely) for the healers to leave. Since the warrior was of high rank, they left without complaint. For several minutes the two males sat without talking. Slowly, So'ke began to calm down. Finally, the boy spoke. 'It's been a long time since I've sat peacefully with someone.'

'Surely you sat with your clan,' Tsu'tey insisted.

'Ma sa'nok and ma sempul both died when I was young. Only Tzar-kan looked after me.'

'Your mentor?'

'Yes. He was much like you, a very skilled hunter and warrior. That was why I was so mad at you…' Tsu'tey gave So'ke a questioning look. 'Since you're so much like him, I feel like I can tell you this.' So'ke hesitated for a minute longer. 'You see… We were practicing and my bow… it slipped… And when I see you, I see him… The man that was so dear to me… The man I killed.'

Tsu'tey remained silent.

'I hated myself; I didn't think myself worthy to be a Na'vi. So I ran away, to live the rest of my life alone, where I couldn't hurt anyone else. When you found me, I had been just about to beg the help of Eywa.'

Tsu'tey could see it now. A small boy, alone in the world. Guilty and scared. Forced back into a clan, making him feel like a danger. 'But,' Tsu'tey murmured quietly, 'if you see Tzar-kan in me, then maybe you didn't really kill him.'

At this, So'ke began crying again. 'I want Eywa to forgive me, but how do I forget?'

'You can't forget.' Tsu'tey said. 'But Eywa has forgiven you, child. Open your eyes, See, she has sent a mentor back to you.'

So'ke kept crying and he would cry several times over the years. But he wouldn't cry alone anymore. He would, should, could never be alone again.


End file.
